Pollemic with Jerry Seinfeld in Lisbon reaches the international press

A controversy involving cancellations at the Commedia a La Carte Fest in Lisbon due to the presence of Jerry Seinfeld has already reached the international press. The humorist is not mentioned by those who have left the scene, but the justifications give ‘leads’: either in an image of a shared watermelon (symbol of resistance and solidarity with Palestine) or even positions that speak of “not relativizing or normalizing genocide”.

It should be noted that Seinfeld has publicly demonstrated his support for Israel since the beginning of the most recent phase of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, triggered by attacks led by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement on 7 October 2023 in southern Israel.

In publication The Hollywood Reporter the story of the exits here is counted by The Hollywood Reporter, with the title: “Portuguese artists give up a festival where Jerry Seinfeld is head of the poster.”.

Inês Aires Pereira, who announced that his show “Namaste” would leave the scene, also wrote, without naming Seinfeld: “A festival includes many names and in this case one of the names insistently defends ideas and acts that I find indefensible. We cannot relativize or normalize genocide.”.

Also the duo of humorists Onbola Mol, who joins Eduardo Madeira and Filipe Man Fonseca, announced that it would not be present, sharing the image of the watermelon mentioned above. “We will celebrate justice, freedom and joy with you on another occasion”, they wrote on social networks. The Hollywood Reporter speaks of these artists, as well as of so many others who left the program: Carolina Deslandes, Tatanka, Barbara Tinoco, Set Cuca Monga, comedian Pedro Torchas and Vhils (Alexandre Farto).

Over the years, Seinfeld has been criticized for his positions, having one of the cases known to have passed in 2024, when dozens of students they abandoned the graduation ceremony at Duke UniversityIn North Carolina, in protest against the guest speaker, who was Jerry Seinfeld.

The students abandoned the ceremony to chant phrases such as “liberate Palestine” and wave Palestinian flags, while they were booed by a large part of the gifts, according to the newspaper Politico highlighted at the time.

In addition to Seinfeld, the poster of the 1st edition of MEO Commedia a La Carte Fest – which aims to gather “the best of comedy, theatre, music, performance, storytelling and pop culture” – includes shows by Herman José, Clarice Falcão, Matilde Breyner, and the quartet César Mourão, Vasco Palmeirim, Pedro Ribeiro and Vera Fernandes, with “Bleep the Bubble”. The shows are divided between the Colosseum of Recreios, Campo Pequeno, Cinema São Jorge and the Capitol.

The festival, created by the mood group Commedia a La Carte, is co-produced by the Last Tour and That Hug.

Jerry Seinfield's show is scheduled for 1 November at MEO Arena, with tickets between 67 euros (conditional mobility) and 247 euros. Two sectors of Balcony I and one of Balcony 0 are already sold out, indicates the blueticket platform.

So far, there have been at least 73,438 dead and 174,447 injured in the Gaza Strip, of a population of about two million people, and there has yet to be a record of corpses among the rubble and in areas occupied by Israel, according to the most recent assessment by the authorities of that territory.

This is the first time the festival has been held, with dates scheduled for 29 October to 1 November.